A financial BLOG written by a DIY investor covering Singapore blue chips, dividend stocks, financial education, corporate news, money saving tips, book reviews and my journey to financial freedom. Currently managing a personal portfolio of more than SGD $1,000,000, I aspire to have an average cash flow of minimum $10,000 per month either through realised capital gains or dividends.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Make money blogging

I have been meaning to write on blog monetization so here it is!

I started Singapore Blue Chips in May 2008, it has been slightly more than 2 years from now. I would say that my blog did generate decent income to cover my internet bills over the past 2 years. The majority of my income did not come from direct advertising but rather from indirect sources.

I earn referral fees from US advertisers to put up their advertising on Singapore blogs. I receive $6-$10 for each referral. So during my free time I comb the local blogging fraternity for possible referrals.

Another part of my income comes from online requests. Prudential once approached me to moderate their forum, http://www.honestlyspeaking.sg/ (forum closed down as campaign ended) and I was paid $100 weekly. The forum was part of their advertising campaign and I am honoured to have the opportunity meet their advertising team to discuss on the online advertising aspects of insurance products.

Occasionally, I do get tertiary students asking me to complete their finance assignments. I do charge high prices for that, at $40-$60 per page. Most of them get good grades anyway, so ethics aside, this blog does generate indirect income similar to online tutoring service. I do discourage prospective students from approaching me though as you are eventually short changing yourself.

Lastly, online advertisements account for the least income. My readership isn’t high, slightly over a thousand unique views weekly, hence payouts from advertisers have been slow. And I know you guys reading my blog never click on my advertisements too!

Fortunately my “Singapore Blue Chips” is always the 1st search result on google and yahoo. Hence readership can always be maintained at a decent rate even if I stop blogging for 3 months. Mr. Tan Kin Lian has kindly linked his blog to mine, which generate the highest number of web referrals too.

This blog was never intended to make money anyway. But it is really satisfying to be able to generate income from a hobby, however little it may be.

I do get several emails a day from readers asking advice on stocks and wealth accumulation. I rarely reply them due to time constrains and the information provided is simply inadequate. Besides, I have no license to advise on financial matters! All I can say that it is never simple to make money through equities investing. Making money through equities does not mean you are correct in your financial concepts. The acumen needs to be honed and there is no short cut in hard work to build one’s fundamental knowledge in finance.

Lately I have been blogging lesser on equities mainly because my portfolio is generating decent income and passivity is my best way to monitor the market. I have no desire to generate super normal returns and my farmer philosophy has served me well.

Singapore Blue Chips

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About Me

I am an ordinary Singaporean guy in my early thirties who is passionate about investing since 2003.
I live in a 4 room HDB flat and like many Singaporeans, dream of becoming a millionaire.
Currently I am an ordinary worker and have just completed my Masters. I aspire to build up a portfolio of 1 million dollars and derive a yearly recurring dividend income of 6% by 35.
The only way to achieve this aim is to work hard and invest prudently.
I invest in a variety of instruments such as unit trusts, stocks, REITS and foreign currencies mainly Australian dollars options.